Truck bumps jet full of passengers

Boise A fuel truck hit an engine on a full United Airlines jet waiting to leave a gate at the Boise airport, causing millions of dollars of damage but no injuries, officials said.

A Western Aircraft fuel truck failed to stop while approaching the Boeing 737 about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, and both the engine and the truck were damaged, airport police Sgt. Bruce Gard said.

The plane was grounded and more than 100 passengers on United Flight 352 to Denver were put on other flights, although some had to wait overnight, airline spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. No specific damage estimate was available, but Urbanski said the total would likely to run to millions of dollars.

“Any time you bump a plane, it costs lots of money,” Gard said.

Western Aircraft officials would not immediately comment.

A mechanical failure appears to be the reason for the collision, Gard said. The truck driver was ordered to undergo a blood test, although there was no indication that he was intoxicated or otherwise under the influence of drugs, Gard added.

Police and Federal Aviation Administration officials were investigating.

Court upholds Judicial Council appointment

Boise The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld Phil Reberger’s appointment to the Idaho Judicial Council, saying the Democrats who filed a lawsuit challenging the appointment had no legal standing to contest the matter.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne nominated Reberger – his former chief of staff and a Republican – to the council in 2003. The Senate voted 26-8, mostly along party lines, to confirm Reberger’s appointment to panel, which nominates and disciplines judges.

But longtime Boise Democrats Katherine Troutner and her husband, Earnest Johnson, sued Kempthorne, Idaho Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes, the entire Idaho Senate and Reberger. Troutner and Johnson claimed that Reberger was the fourth Republican to be added to the panel, in violation of a state law that limits the council to no more than three of the permanent appointed members from any one political party.

Republicans contended that under state law, judges are considered nonpartisan, and so another council member – 6th District Judge and former state Republican Chairman Randy Smith – is no longer considered a member of the GOP.

Otter’s land could become housing development

Eagle, Idaho Land owned by Rep. C.L. “Butch” Otter, R-Idaho, could be turned into a high-density housing development in this fast-growing southwestern Idaho city.

The 41-acre parcel is owned by G.O. Ranches Inc., a company owned by Otter, who represents Idaho’s 1st Congressional District and is running for governor this year.

The Eagle Planning and Zoning Commission and city staff are recommending approval of the project, which would have up to 17 houses on each acre of land.

Hawkins Companies, the developer, was scheduled to go before the Eagle City Council on Tuesday. Hawkins is asking the city for annexation, zoning to multi-use and a development agreement. No specific plats have yet been filed with the city.

In Eagle, new developments in the past have featured lots of a half-acre or larger, making the latest proposal, called Lonesome Dove, a significant change.

Nearly 340 cleanup workers lose jobs at INL

Idaho Falls Nearly 340 workers are being laid off from the nuclear waste cleanup effort at the Idaho National Laboratory.

Officials with CWI, the project’s contractor, said the company’s new contract with the U.S. Department of Energy requires a smaller work force than the 2,360 people now employed.

The workers were offered a buyout of $25,000 plus a week’s salary for every year worked. Most of the departing workers will leave by Jan. 30, officials said.

CWI officials declined to say if more positions would be eliminated, but said any additional layoffs won’t occur until 2007, after the company reevaluates its needs.

Some of the younger employees plan to use the package to go back to school, said Bill Dalton, CWI human resources director. But the average age of those who opted for the buyout is 55.

Judge upholds ruling on West’s computer images

Visiting Superior Court Judge Richard Miller refused Monday to modify his November ruling blocking public access to information and images from Gay.com on the City Hall computer of former Spokane Mayor Jim West.

Last May, while investigating abuse of office allegations against West, The Spokesman-Review used the state’s Open Records Act to seek access to the material on his government-owned computer.

When city attorneys were prepared to release the material, West and his attorneys took legal action, blocking the newspaper and the public from accessing the material on the computer.

The judge, reiterating his earlier ruling, said during Monday’s telephone hearing that Gay.com members have some expectation of privacy, even if their images ended up on West’s computer.

Newspaper attorney Duane Swinton argued that men who post the pictures on Gay.com, using screen names, want to be seen and waive any presumption of privacy by willingly posting information on the Internet.

Ex-Portland archbishop questioned on abuse

San Francisco A high-ranking Vatican official had to answer questions during a seven-hour deposition Monday about how the Portland archdiocese handled priest sex abuse allegations in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

Attorney Kelly Clark described former Portland Archbishop William Levada as articulate and intelligent and said it “was a productive day.”

Levada was served with a subpoena last August, right before he left for Rome to take over the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the highest Vatican post ever held by an American.

Levada served as archbishop in Portland from 1986 to 1995 before transferring to San Francisco.

In 2004, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than 155 (m) million in damages.

Police defuse bomb in Starbucks store

San Francisco Police on Monday defused an improvised explosive device found in the restroom of a Starbucks store.

No one was injured, San Francisco police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens said.

Police received a call at about 1:15 p.m. after an employee reported finding something suspicious in the restroom of the Starbucks store, located at a busy intersection in San Francisco.

Police evacuated close to 100 people from the Starbucks and an apartment above the store, as well as shutting down traffic on the street, before disabling the device, Gittens said.

“This was a good device. If it had exploded, it would have caused injuries or damage,” said Gittens, who would not describe its size.

Police allowed people back into the apartment building and reopened the street shortly after defusing the device, but the store remained closed Monday evening while police investigated.

Gittens said he could not give any further details and said an investigation was under way. Seattle-based Starbucks also declined to provide further details.